A neighbor saw smoke coming from the roof of the three-bedroom ranch in the 300 block of Westmoor Drive and reported the fire shorting before 7 a.m. No one was home, and officials have not yet been able to contact anyone living there, Petersen said. The fire is believed to have started in the kitchen area. The cause remains under investigation.

The residence was valued at $111,000, plus contents of about $30,000.

"It looks like it's going to be a total loss," Petersen said.

The Brookfield department was assisted by several area departments, with some reporting to the scene and others on call for other mutual aid.

The man implied he had a weapon during the robbery at 11:14 a.m., according to a release from police.

The suspect was described as a black male, 5 feet 8 to 5 feet 10, medium build, no facial hair and wearing black-rimmed glasses, a red hat and a blue coat. He fled on foot and remained at large Saturday night.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Bayside Police Department at (414) 351-8800.

Tosa East's Anthony Carroll scored on a driving layup in the final seconds to give his team a 43-42 victory. The win, combined with Marquette's loss to Brookfield Central, gives the Red Raiders sole possession of first place in the Greater Metro Conference.

Jan. 28, 2011 9:16 a.m. | Girls basketball will take center stage Friday night with a handful of monster showdowns in the MyCommunityNOW coverage area. All games begin at 7:30 p.m.

In the Woodland Conference, New Berlin Eisenhower (12-1) will battle with Pewaukee (13-0) on the road in a clash of powerhouses. The defending state champion Lions figure to meet the Pirates again in the Division 2 playoffs. The teams both sit in first place in their respective divisions.

In the Southeast, Oak Creek (10-3) travels to Racine Case (12-2) in a battle for first place. The Eagles are unbeaten in league play, led by University of Iowa recruit Samantha Logic. The Knights' lone SEC loss came at Case's hands.

In the North Shore, Nicolet (13-2) travels to Whitefish Bay (9-3) in a battle that could go a long way toward determining a conference champion. The Knights haven't lost in conference, including a blowout win over the Blue Dukes earlier this year, but Bay hasn't lost in conference since.

In the Greater Metro, first-place Brookfield Central (10-3) visits Divine Savior Holy Angels (6-7). The Dashers' overall mark belies a strong team (5-2 conference mark) that battled Central to the wire the first time around, though a DSHA loss to Menomonee Falls on Tuesday prevents this game from being a true battle for the top GMC spot.

Jan. 25, 2011 3:54 p.m. | North Shore Bank customers were shaken up, but not injured, after a gun-toting robber made off with a bag filled with money last week.

According to the Wauwatosa police report:

A man with a scarf covering most of his face carried a semiautomatic handgun into the branch at 87th Street and North Avenue at 10:23 a.m. Jan. 17. He grabbed a customer who was leaving and forced him back into the building.

Then he approached the counter, threw a bag at a teller and demanded she fill it with money. He told a second teller to help the other and threatened to shoot her if she did not hurry up.

On the way out, he dropped the gun. When he stopped to pick it up, he told the staff and customers to have a nice day.

Jan. 25, 2011 3:52 p.m. | A tip from a bank employee led police to a Florida woman who allegedly drove around to Wells Fargo branches withdrawing money from another person's account. She has been charged with two felony counts of ID theft.

According to the Wauwatosa report:

Jennifer Grimaldi, 40, said she got a call from a male acquaintance who offered to pay her and help get her teeth fixed if she flew to Minnesota and helped him with some jobs.

She arrived in the Midwest on Jan. 14 and he picked her up in a car full of people. The group spent a few nights in Minnesota before heading to the Milwaukee area.

Grimaldi was given a purse - it was later learned it had been stolen during a car break-in - that contained identifying and financial information belonging to a Minnesota woman. She was told to go to various Wells Fargo locations and withdraw money from the victim's account. The man said he would follow in another vehicle and she should give the money to him when she was finished.

Jan. 25, 2011 7:26 a.m. | A Waukesha woman thought she found a great deal on tickets to the NFC Championship game between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears on Sunday, but instead lost $500 in an Internet scam.

According to the town of Brookfield police report:

The woman reported Jan. 18 that she found an online post advertising tickets to the game for sale for $150 each.

The seller told her Jan. 17 that he was unable to go the game because he lives in Florida, and that he would sell four tickets for $500 if she wired the money to England via Western Union.

She was told that the seller wouldn't collect the money until she received the tickets in the mail and was able to inspect them. When she checked the status Jan. 18, however, she learned the money already had been collected. The seller would not return her phone calls.

Jan. 24, 2011 8:42 a.m. | Some of the area's best soccer players took to the field Saturday at the US Cellular Arena to represent their schools in the MyCommunityNOW/Milwaukee Wave Senior All-Star soccer match.

NOW's C.T. Kruger was there too, and created this photo gallery with more than 30 images from the contest.

The East team posted a 12-8 victory in the game, which featured players from Brookfield Central, Brookfield East, Franklin, Germantown, Greendale, Homestead, Menomonee Falls, Muskego, New Berlin Eisenhower, New Berlin West, Shorewood, South Milwaukee, Wauwatosa East, West Allis Hale and Whitefish Bay.

Jan. 21, 2011 8:30 a.m. | The village of Whitefish Bay will remove 400 ash trees that are either small or in poor condition as a first step toward managing what some feel is the inevitable arrival of the emerald ash borer, an insect that bores into the trees and disrupts their feeding system, causing them to die.

The emerald ash borer is a foreign intruder that likely came to the United States on a freighter. First found in Michigan, it has spread rapidly, either by hitching rides on firewood or by flying.

The insect was found last year in Oak Creek, only 22 miles away. Previously it was found in Newburg.

The Village Board approved the first year of a 15-year plan at its meeting last night. Trustees Tom Fehring and Kevin Buckley voted against the plan, estimated at a $223,824 cost for the first year. Both supported spreading the work and cost over a two-year period.

Interim Village Manager Matt Schuenke said the project will go out for bid and the cost could be reduced once bids are received. The village has $30,000 in its tree removal budget and will borrow the remainder as part of a larger bonding issue later in the spring.

Jan. 19, 2011 11:53 a.m. | Muskego and Oak Creek, two of the most talented basketball teams in the area, faced off last night in a Southeast Conference game and NOW's Peter Zuzga was there capturing all the action in this photo gallery.

Oak Creek's Ashley Luke and Cydney Weisflog each scored 16 points to help their team to the 54-49 victory. The defeat was Muskego's first conference setback of the season.

Jan. 19, 2011 8:34 a.m. | A moment that should have brought feelings of relief quickly turned to conflict between police and patrons at Mayfair Mall.

According to a Wauwatosa Police Department report released this week:

A 2-year-old boy was found lost in the mall about 6:30 p.m. Jan. 7. As security and police officers tried to find his family, a 40-year-old Milwaukee woman approached and said she was his grandmother.

An officer asked for the woman's name, explaining she needed to document to whom the child was being turned over. The grandmother seemed hesitant to provide information, so the officer asked for an ID. That information was called in to dispatchers to find out if she had any warrants or other issues on her record.

The grandmother was accompanied by other family members, one of whom - an 18-year-old Milwaukee woman - started making comments that all the questions were disrespectful and unwarranted and that she believed they were being treated poorly due to the mayhem that had broken out at the mall Jan. 2.

Jan. 15, 2011 7:00 p.m. | A 40-year-old West Allis man was arrested by Wauwatosa police in connection with a threat made against Mayfair Mall that was listed on Craigslist, WTMJ-TV (Channel 4) reported Saturday night.

"Upon discovering the threat, management immediately contacted the Wauwatosa" Police Department, David Keating, vice president for corporate communications for mall owner General Growth Properties Inc., said in a statement to the Journal Sentinel.

"The Police Department is investigating," he said. "We have no reason to believe the threat was credible. However, we took it seriously."

Jan. 12, 2011 9:22 a.m. | Two Tosa teens were robbed at gunpoint in East Tosa on Sunday night.

According to a Wauwatosa Police Department report:

The duo, both 17 years old, had been walking home from Center Street Park when they saw two people in dark clothing standing at 66th and Clarke streets about 9 p.m. As they approached, they saw they were wearing ski masks.

One of the masked men grabbed the boy's arm and asked what he had in his pocket, taking his MP3 player. Then he tried to grab the girl's purse, but she wasn't giving it up.

The robber raised his arm and pointed a gun at the girl's head. He said he would shoot her if she didn't let the purse go. The boy convinced her to let the robbers have it.

Jan. 12, 2011 9:03 a.m. | Two mothers caused a ruckus last week when they showed up at Wauwatosa East High School to intervene for their daughters who felt threatened.

According to a Wauwatosa Police Department report:

Administrators heard a commotion in the hallway and found parents and students yelling at each other at 12:50 p.m. Jan. 5. A student had been walking out to go to a doctor's appointment when the mother of a classmate grabbed her arm and threatened to beat up the girl and her mother.

Meanwhile, another mother chased a girl down the hall using profane language.

Dominic LaLicata applied to open the bar in the Village at 6750 W. State St., where an Applebee's currently operates. The Applebee's is set to close at a later date. LaLicata owns a Mad Dog Saloon in Greenfield, as well as Boulder Junction restaurant in Brookfield and Crazy Horse strip club in West Allis.

LaLicata pitched his business as a sports bar, but Mayor Jill Didier voiced concern that the set up at the Greenfield location might show otherwise.

"Rumor has it you have a couple of stripper poles in your establishment," said Didier, chairwoman of the commission.

LaLicata called the poles "a gimmick," comparing it to the giant pepper people can ride at La Perla in Milwaukee.

Jan. 11, 2011 7:32 a.m. | A Brookfield man was cited for disorderly conduct after he pointed a loaded gun at a Wauwatosa man during a parking lot brawl, according to Brookfield police.

According to the city of Brookfield police report:

The situation unfolded just before 7:30 p.m. Jan. 7 when the 50-year-old Brookfield man and the 31-year-old Wauwatosa man were angered by each other's driving in the parking lot of Pick 'n Save, 12735 W. Capitol Drive.

The two exchanged obscene hand gestures and were outside their vehicles arguing when the Wauwatosa man threw the Brookfield man to the ground.

The 50-year-old responded by pointing a loaded gun at the younger man, who then fled the scene.

Jan. 10, 2011 3:22 p.m. | It's not the most likely scene in Whitefish Bay, so a concerned person called the police after seeing an "elderly man dragging a dead cat" in the 5400 block of North Bay Ridge Avenue. The incident occurred around 11:15 a.m. Friday.

According to the police report:

The man, 75, from Germany was visiting a relative. The cat was not dead but "uncooperative" and it and the man were taken back to the relative's home.

Jan. 09, 2011 7:46 a.m. | The Wauwatosa East boys basketball team earned a 69-56 victory over host Wauwatosa West yesterday and we've just posted Peter Zuzga's photo gallery with all the action from the game.

Jan. 07, 2011 7:37 a.m. | Police spent hours Wednesday tracking burglary suspects, an effort that paid off when they caught two men breaking in a door at a Milwaukee home, just outside Wauwatosa, and trying to carry out a television.

“Our guys had been on them and we literally caught them red-handed,” said Officer Luke Vetter, Wauwatosa police union president.

The Wauwatosa Police Department has saturated the East Tosa area between 60th Street to Wauwatosa Avenue and Center Street to North Avenue to catch, or at least scare off, the criminals that had been breaking into homes since early December.

In these roughly 15 incidents, burglars broke into empty homes and took televisions, electronics, jewelry and more.

There have also been violent home invasions by a man claiming to work for a tree service that aren’t connected to these arrests.

Jan. 05, 2011 1:12 p.m. | The Menomonee Falls Police Department has sent out an alert today warning residents of a man who claims to work for a tree service but then robs people once he gets inside their homes.

According to the news release:

Wauwatosa and Milwaukee police both reported home invasions involving the same man.

At 93rd and Capitol Drive in Wauwatosa, the man told the female homeowner that he needed to use the bathroom and was there as a representative of Brookfield Tree Service. Once inside, he grabbed the woman from behind and demanded money.

In the Milwaukee incident, he attempted to talk his way into the home claiming he worked for Hoppe Tree Service.

Jan. 05, 2011 11:04 a.m. | A man pretending to represent a tree service, burglarized a Wauwatosa home and got violent with the owner last week.

According to a Wauwatosa Police Department reports:

A resident of the 4100 block of North 93rd Street heard knocking at her door at 11:28 a.m. Dec. 28. She was not expecting visitors, so she ignored it until the knocking became incessant.

The man at the door said he was there from a tree service, but she had not made an appointment. He asked to use her bathroom before leaving, but she said no and started shutting the door. He pushed it back open forcing her to fall back into a closet. He grabbed her by the shoulders and demanded money.

She was pushed down the stairs and he forced her to take him through the house looking for jewelry and other valuables. When she screamed, he threatened to hurt her.

Jan. 05, 2011 10:16 a.m. | A man was tied up and beaten by burglars who invaded his Wauwatosa home in the 2400 block of North 63rd Street last week.

According to a Police Department report:

The 28-year-old victim was asleep in his bedroom when he awoke to punches in the face from two men. They asked where money and valuables were kept, then bound his hands and ankles and gagged his mouth.

Officers could not find signs of forced entry and questioned whether he knew the burglars. They found bags typically used to sell drugs in his room, but he said that was only for his personal use.

One of the men was armed with a kitchen knife and threatened to kill the victim. He also heard mention of a gun and later a BB gun was found on the floor.

Jan. 05, 2011 8:28 a.m. | A 65-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested for possession of stolen property and carrying a concealed weapon after he was seen carrying two large comforters across a Mayfair Mall parking lot last week.

According to Wauwatosa Police Department:

The man was familiar to Boston Store staff, because he was suspected of taking bedding two days prior.

On this occasion, he drew attention to himself when he was seen ripping price tags off four fragrance sets valued at $244 at 7 p.m. Dec. 28. He placed the items near an exit and left.

Soon a 47-year-old Milwaukee man picked them up and exited the store. He was arrested for retail theft.

Jan. 05, 2011 7:43 a.m. | The New Berlin Eisenhower boys basketball team earned local bragging rights last night with a 69-57 victory at home against New Berlin West and we've just posted Peter Zuzga's photo gallery from the game.

Reed Timmer led his team with 27 points as the Lions improved to 7-3 overall. West fell to 6-4.

Jan. 04, 2011 5:18 p.m. | A $2,000 reward has been offered to anyone who can help the Wauwatosa Police Department track down the teen who attempted to rob someone and fired a gunshot in the Mayfair Mall parking lot Sunday night.

Wauwatosa Crime Stoppers is working with mall management to provide cash as an incentive to get information that will lead to an arrest and conviction.

The attempted armed robbery happened at 6:04 p.m. The suspect is described as a black boy ages 16 to 17, with a medium complexion and a thin build.

Jan. 04, 2011 1:07 p.m. | Alan Hamari and Isral DeBruin, who we like to call the Siskel and Ebert of sledding hills, or maybe the Abbott and Costello, are back with a look at some of the best runs in the area.

This year the downhill duo checks in with a video review of hills in New Berlin, West Allis and Hales Corners. You can also check out past reviews of North Shore and Elm Grove Hill.

Jan. 03, 2011 1:54 p.m. | Wauwatosa officials are speaking out about the crimes that went down at Mayfair Mall on Sunday evening.

"As mayor of Wauwatosa, I want to be very clear when I say that the kind of disruption that was made last night at Mayfair Mall will not be condoned," Mayor Jill Didier said in a statement this afternoon.

She vowed that the city will pursue and prosecute the criminals.

Several people have been arrested for various crimes, including disorderly conduct and vandalism, but no arrests have been made in the attempted armed robbery or gunfire in the mall parking lot.

Brian Ewerdt, alderman for the district in which the mall is located, also had strong words about the perpetrators, who he referred to as a "herd of punks that in hindsight will wish they picked a different spot to pull something this stupid."

Jan. 02, 2011 9:30 p.m. | Mayfair Mall closed down early on Sunday afternoon as New Year's weekend shoppers were told to leave after witnesses reported seeing groups of unruly young people shouting and running in the Wauwatosa shopping center.

There also were unsubstantiated reports of gunfire.

Elsa Mercado was trying on clothes in a fitting room at Ann Taylor Loft when she heard loud noises. Her sister was at another store, and when Mercado tried to leave to check on her, she discovered she was locked in as some of the stores brought down their security gates.

"Someone was pounding on our door and saying, 'Please let me in. There's gunfire.' We unlocked the door and let him in. He was very frightened, he was very pale," said Mercado, who used her cell phone to call 911.